‘Dimes Against Crimes’ Launched by Eu

California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, who was savagely beaten by an intruder in her Los Angeles home last year, Thursday announced a drive to qualify a ballot initiative that would raise excise taxes on hard liquor and give the revenue to police and sheriff departments.

Eu, who rose to political prominence in the 1960s by fighting pay toilets, wants the initiative on the June, 1988, ballot--which, coincidentally, is when she plans to be on the ballot herself as a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate.

Calling her initiative campaign “Dimes Against Crimes,” Eu said at a Los Angeles press conference that “the correlation between alcohol abuse and criminal-related activity is well established. . . .

“We must give law enforcement the resources needed to keep us safe. My proposal would increase the excise tax on each half-pint or distilled spirits sold in California by 10 cents. That amounts to an increase of less than 2 cents per mixed drink. The state would allocate the money directly to city police chiefs and county sheriffs in California on a per capita basis.”

Eu, who must collect 372,178 signatures to qualify the ballot measure, estimated that the increased excise taxes would generate more than $82 million a year. Los Angeles County’s share was put at $25 million a year.

According to a report from the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council, which was distributed by Eu, California’s excise tax on hard liquor is $2 per gallon. New York, by comparison, has a $4.09 excise tax per gallon.

Eu’s plan would increase the California excise tax on hard liquor to $3.60 a gallon. Eu said she did not include wine, beer and wine coolers in her proposal to increase excise taxes because they are produced in California “and I don’t want to hurt our domestic industries.”

By contrast, Eu said, “almost all of the distilled spirits are imported into California.”